Reliability assessment and prediction of failure rates of electrical and mechanical parts is a valuable tool used by a wide array of industries, such as, manufacturers and distributors of automobiles, high-end electrical equipment, household and industrial mechanical equipment, military contract goods, space industry equipment, and aircraft and avionics systems. Reliability predictions are often used to assist management in deciding appropriate maintenance schedules, replacement parts needs for immediate use, end-item estimated lifetime, end-item projected costs, and safety analyses.
With regard to products related to Information Technology, such as computer parts/products, reliability prediction data is typically obtained by taking a large sample of the finished product and conducting a long term trial. When a significant fraction of the product has failed, a prediction of the performance of the rest of the test group can be constructed and applied to the general population of the product. This is not a practical approach since the test duration is often longer than the shipping lifetime of the product thereby resulting in a prediction that is determined after the product is no longer being sold.
Accordingly, what is needed is a more practical approach to collecting reliability prediction data from the associated equipment. The approach should be simple, inexpensive and capable of being easily adapted to existing technology. The present invention addresses these needs.